Stranger Things
by Cheshire6845
Summary: Chakotay has a long night ahead of him. Heavily inspired by the movie Ghosts of Girlfriends Past which is based off A Christmas Carol
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:**** No infringement intended. I was just playing with Paramount's toys. I'll put them back.**

**Notes:**** Thanks to QS for once again donning the beta hat although this story really wasn't her cuppa. This story was written on a whim after watching the movie Ghosts of Girlfriends Past. Similarities are probably not just a coincidence. **

**Stranger Things by Cheshire**

Chakotay sat up and scrubbed his hands over his face, running them up through his hair. He couldn't sleep. They'd been home several weeks, but he still missed the steady thrum of Voyager's engines. His current apartment was just too quiet at night. He glanced forlornly at the other side of the bed. It also didn't help that he was sleeping alone.

Seven had been there earlier, but she wasn't exactly a cuddler, and she still wasn't able to go without regenerating. So after they'd completed their nocturnal recreation - she'd left. Presently, Starfleet did not feel safe enough having a Borg alcove stationed somewhere that they couldn't monitor it; therefore, the only place she could regenerate was at headquarters where they had installed her alcove.

Giving up on getting any more sleep, Chakotay grudgingly got up. After making himself some tea, he considered calling Kathryn just to chat. If anyone was still up at this time of night it would be her, but he hated to think that he could possibly wake her if this had been one of those rare occasions when she'd actually been able to get to sleep at a reasonable hour. He'd always kind of thought that her insomnia was linked directly to _Voyager_ and the Delta Quadrant, but when he'd seen her yawn at one of the debriefings, she'd confessed that she still wasn't sleeping well, even without the stress of one hundred forty plus people counting on her.

Cradling his cup of tea, he instead sank heavily into the cushions of the couch and turned on the viewscreen. After several minutes of searching, he switched it back off and wondered idly if he had unpacked any of Tom's ancient entertainment programs yet. Even if they were outlandish, they were certainly more interesting than anything he'd just flipped through. He looked around the room and realized he wouldn't find any of the data cards tonight. He still had more than a few storage containers completely full as he hadn't even begun to work on unpacking them. One of many things Seven found him to be inefficient about.

He sighed. Being completely finished with the debriefings and having started his leave, he didn't even have the old standby of having work to complete to occupy his time. He settled further back into the cushions. Maybe he'd contact his spirit guide, not that she'd been exactly great company of late either, though – a chair scraped across the floor, and he sat bolt upright, spilling some of his tea. That noise had come from his bedroom.

Grabbing a phaser from a drawer, Chakotay moved quietly towards the room in question. The room that he knew should be empty. He really hoped it wasn't another reporter...or fan. Coming back to the Alpha Quadrant in such an explosive fashion had made them minor celebrities, a situation that sometimes had drawbacks like being followed relentlessly on occasion. Or like finding a photographer in your bathroom. Taking a breath, Chakotay spun around the corner, phaser held center on the bed, only to find no one there. He looked confusedly towards the window. He was sure he had heard something.

"Is that how you treat all the women that show up in your bedroom?"

Chakotay whirled around, his heart in his throat, to see a rather tall woman silhouetted in the light of the bathroom door. "Who are you? What are you–" he squinted, "Sveta?"

"Oh good, you do remember me." She pretended to wipe sweat from her brow. "That could've been really embarrassing."

"Wh-what are you doing here?" he spluttered. "_How_ did you get here?"

"I didn't teach you _all_ of my Maquis secrets," she said coyly. "As for what I'm doing here...let's just say we need to talk."

"Talk about what?" he asked, lowering the phaser. "Wait, I thought you were still being held in New Zealand."

She chuckled and walked towards him. "I am."

And then she walked through him.

Chakotay gasped and spun on his heel to see Sveta making herself comfortable on his bed. For a brief moment, the incredible and bizarre nature of the situation had his jaw dropping, and then he remembered he'd seen stranger and closed his mouth.

"_That's it_? That's all the reaction I get from you?" Sveta frowned at him. "You really have become jaded in your old age."

Now it was his turn to frown. He wasn't old; in fact, _she_ was a couple of years older than him.

"Which is probably why we never slept together," she commented, "but we did come close though didn't we?" She laughed, enjoying the shocked expression on his face. "Oh that's much better, and yes, I can read your thoughts."

Chakotay had reached his limit. "All right, what the hell is going on?"

"I'm here to deliver a message. Tonight you will be visited by three women...well, four if you count me, and I suggest you pay attention to what they show you."

"What do you mean by 'visit'?" he asked incredulous. "And what exactly are they going to show me?"

"Well, they won't be ringing the chime on the front door if that's what you're asking," she replied. "And as for what they're going to show you...well, let's just say there are some things you need to see for yourself before you'll believe them."

"What kind of things?" he snapped.

"Do you always ask this many questions, Chakotay?" she commented with a hint of disgust. "Where's your sense of adventure?"

"I left it in the Delta Quadrant."

"Oh, that was witty," she retorted her voice dripping with sarcasm. "I don't have all the answers you want. I'm just telling you what I was told. Somebody, somewhere, wants you to learn something and in order to learn it...the women of your life are going to show it to you."

Now he was even more skeptical. "This is Q's doing, isn't it?"

Sveta stared at him blankly. "I have no idea what that question means. Look," she stood up. "I've got to get back. I just came by to give you a heads up." She stepped past him, headed for the living room. "You might want to drink some coffee because...you've got a long night ahead of you."

Chakotay spun to follow her and demand a better explanation, but the living room was empty.

* * *

Chakotay searched the entire house from top to bottom, looking to find Sveta or at least the way she managed to get inside, but all he ended up with was himself staring into the mirror over the bathroom sink. He scrutinized his reflection, looking for some cause or sign of insanity, but he saw nothing out of the ordinary. Cupping his hands and letting them fill with water, he shook his head. "It's not like the Doctor sleeps," he muttered to himself. "I could call him."

Just as he splashed the cool water over his face, a low growl sounded from somewhere behind him and Chakotay froze, feeling the hair on the back of his neck stand on end. This night was just getting better and better. With his face still dripping water, Chakotay slowly and smoothly stood up, turning towards the door so that he was looking into his bedroom. In the furthest corner of the room, tucked into the shadows, he could just make out a crouching figure that looked humanoid. Cautiously, he took a tentative step into the room.

"Where the hell am I?" the figure bellowed from the corner.

Chakotay froze and then frowned. He recognized that voice. "B'Elanna?"

Even in the shadows, he could sense her surprise as she straightened out of her crouch and stepped further into the room herself. "Chakotay?"

If Chakotay thought he'd been surprised before, he'd thought wrong. It was in fact B'Elanna that stepped out from the corner of his room, but it was not the B'Elanna he currently knew. This B'Elanna appeared to be about ten years younger with hard lean features, wiry muscles, and wearing Maquis leathers.

She stared at him as well and then snorted, "You've really let yourself go, Old Man." And then seeming to completely accept the situation, B'Elanna walked further into the room, eying everything. She gestured back towards the corner where she'd appeared, "Sorry about that. You took me a little by surprise. Is this your place? It's nice. Not quite what I'm used to seeing...but nice."

"Thanks," he replied automatically before he caught himself. "Wait. What's going on?"

The young half-Klingon looked at him and winked. And just like that, his living room was gone, replaced by metallic bulkheads and a low ceiling. Chakotay actually stumbled backwards a step at the sudden change.

"Now this is more like it!" B'Elanna whooped happily.

Chakotay watched, dumbfounded as B'Elanna took a seat on a metal chair and propped her feet on top of a small table jutting out from the wall. No, not a wall...a bulkhead. The rumble beneath his feet, the stars streaking by, and that ever-present scent of burned circuitry brought the memories rushing back. If appearances weren't deceiving, they were on the _Val Jean_. In his old quarters. "B'Elanna...are we–"

A crash sounded, and he and B'Elanna both looked towards a cloth covered doorway separating the cabin. As captain, Chakotay had held the largest quarters on the ship. Not that the quarters had been all that large, after all the entirety of his cabin could have easily fit inside Kathryn's living room, but still, he'd been the only person to enjoy having a private bedroom on the ship. A small bedroom that he knew lay just beyond the hanging cloth.

Another thump sounded, and B'Elanna pursed her lips, "Do you want to look or shall I?"

Chakotay swallowed thickly as they could easily hear the muffled grunts of two people emanating from behind the cloth. He shook his head. There'd only been one person he'd had sex with in that room, and he had no desire to see himself with her. A growl followed by another thump sounded, and this time it seemed to be perilously close to the cloth hanging across the hatch. B'Elanna reached out a hand to pull the cloth back.

"B'E...don't!" he whispered at her, receiving a frown in response.

"Oh relax, they can't see us," she grumbled, peering into the room. Her eyebrows shot up on her ridged forehead, and she turned her head sideways. "Wow, I bet you couldn't get into that position now."

A woman's whimpers were easily discernible now, and Chakotay's gut clenched at the voice he thought he'd never have to hear again. Seska. The one woman he'd gotten seriously involved with during his time with the Maquis. The Cardassian spy that had used the oldest trick in the book to her advantage. Seduction. Flattery. And sex. And he'd never even suspected.

His self loathing at the memory of her was only intensified as Seska's cry of passion sounded through the small cabin. B'Elanna whistled, and Chakotay dared to open his eyes only to find her actually standing in the doorway now holding the cloth out of her way. She looked back at him with a smile. "You had stamina, old man. You're still going at it. I'm impressed."

Chakotay took the single step needed to cover the distance between them and yanked B'Elanna away from the doorway. "What the hell are we doing here?" he hissed.

"Don't you know?" she asked. "I'm here to show you one of your past relationships. Maybe help you learn something from it."

The sound of two people having sex only a few feet away was very distracting, but Chakotay tried to concentrate on what B'Elanna had just said. "I'm supposed to learn something? From _this_? How is _this_ even possible?"

B'Elanna held up a hand. "Wait for it. Wait–"

A sound that was utterly primal and completely male echoed through the cabin, followed by almost complete silence. B'Elanna giggled, and Chakotay felt heat creep into his face. He didn't need her commentary to tell him what had just happened in the small bedroom.

"Here we go," B'Elanna breathed quietly, standing right next to him. He hadn't even seen her move, but before he could ask her anything, the cloth hanging over the door was pushed aside once again. Seska appeared, wearing a long white shirt that Chakotay recognized as once belonging to him, and slipped into the small room where he and B'Elanna stood.

Without a single glance back into the bedroom, Seska sat down at the small table that had been so recently occupied by B'Elanna and activated the desktop computer. Immediately, she began working on the console and Chakotay, feeling the old fury rise in him, could only imagine what she was doing. Contacting the Cardassians. Feeding them information about the Maquis. Even though he hadn't even seen a glimpse of himself in the other room, Chakotay felt like yelling at the top of his lungs so his other version would wake up and catch the spy in his midst.

But he knew that wasn't going to happen. Just like Seska knew. She wasn't even hurried in her movements, completely confident of her security. Chakotay was seething and wondering why he was being forced to watch this. He turned angrily to ask B'Elanna exactly that only to find her staring curiously at him.

"What?" he snapped.

She gestured towards Seska. "You really had no idea?"

"What? No! Of course not," he said feeling more than a little exasperated. "Why would you say that?"

B'Elanna continued to stare at him for a minute. Then she looked at Seska, obviously still contemplating a thought. "Let's take this back a bit."

With a flick of her hand, Chakotay saw Seska move backwards away from the table and back into the bedroom, and then things were moving too fast for him to see anything until he and B'Elanna were standing in the bedroom...alone. He felt a distinct sensation of nausea and wondered what the hell had just happened. "B'Elanna–" he started.

And then the cloth hanging over the door moved and Chakotay watched, dumbfounded as his younger self entered the room. It was surreal watching himself move about the tiny room. A knock sounded on the outside hatch, and his younger self froze, his hand already resting on the butt of the phaser tucked in his belt.

"Who is it?" he growled.

"Like you don't know," Seska's voice answered. "Are you going to let me in?"

Chakotay watched as a quick grin crossed the face of his younger self. He felt sick as the younger man put the phaser down and stepped towards the door. But then the younger man paused and Chakotay straightened, watching intently now. The Maquis captain glanced once more towards the door and then took the phaser and hid it under the mattress, handle out so that it could be grabbed quickly, before hurrying to answer the door.

"So what was that?" B'Elanna asked.

"I don't know," Chakotay answered honestly. "I don't remember doing that."

"Well, you must have," B'Elanna argued. "I'm not just making this stuff up." He frowned at her, but she continued, "Looks to me like maybe you didn't trust her so completely after all."

"No." He shook his head. "I wouldn't have slept with her if I hadn't trusted–"

His argument was cut off by two bodies, meshed up against each other, tumbling into the room and falling onto the bed. Chakotay turned away, not wanting to see his younger self going at it...

...and he found himself back in his own home. Alone.

* * *

"B'Elanna?" Chakotay whipped his head around searching his living room. The room was completely quiet and still looking exactly as it had when he'd left what felt like hours earlier. His gaze landed on the comm unit, and he crossed to it, punching in the code to put a call through to the Paris household. He drummed his fingers impatiently on the console as it beeped several times signaling his call.

Finally, the screen activated to reveal a very tousled looking Tom Paris. He rubbed his hand across his chin and squinted at the screen. "Chakotay? What're –"

"Is B'Elanna there?" Chakotay asked, cutting off Tom's puzzled question.

"Well...yeah," Tom answered automatically looking back over his shoulder into the bedroom behind him. "But she's sleeping, man."

"She _was_ sleeping!" the mound of covers on the bed growled at the viewscreen. "Does he have any idea what time it is?"

Tom turned back to the screen, still rubbing sleep out of his eyes. "Is everything okay? Something wrong?"

"What? Oh...no," Chakotay stumbled over his words. He couldn't decide if he was relieved to see an obviously sleeping B'Elanna or not. "I'm sorry. I didn't realize what time it was. You should go back to sleep, Tom. Really, everything is fine."

"Okay," Tom agreed easily and shut off the view screen without asking another question.

Chakotay's shoulders slumped. Tom may have let him off the hook easily, but he knew B'Elanna would be calling him later in the morning demanding an explanation, and he had no idea what he would tell her. That he'd seen a hallucination of her. That it had seemed real enough he felt the need to call her in the middle of the night. He pinched the bridge of his nose.

"I'll tell you right now...you better not call my place at two in the morning," a female voice spoke behind him, "because unless you're gushing blood or dying, whatever you've got to tell me can wait until later in the day."

Despite jumping at hearing the first word, Chakotay resolutely refused to acknowledge this hallucination. He shook his head and kept his eyes closed tight. "No. This is not happening."

"Wanna bet?" A chuckle from the living room. "And if you think you can ignore me and I'll just go away, you're even more deluded than you think you are."

Chakotay dropped his hands to his sides and sighed. He knew she wouldn't go away. Not because he believed this whole impossible situation was actually happening, but because once again he recognized the voice. And he knew his little sister. Sekaya's stubborn streak was only matched in longevity by Kathryn Janeway's, which made him pause and wonder how he had gotten saddled with two such women in his lifetime.

"You're just lucky, I guess," she commented playfully, demonstrating once again that his thoughts were apparently up for grabs for whoever wanted to listen in.

Resigning himself, he faced her. "What are you doing here?"

"You're so rude, Brother. Can't you even say hello?" she scolded from her seat on the couch. "I mean, I'm happy to see you. Aren't you the least bit happy to see me?"

Chakotay shook his head.

Sekaya's eyes narrowed. "Oh just for that, Brother, the gloves are off." She strode over to him and grabbed him by the wrist, surprising him as she pulled him behind her towards the bedroom all the while still talking. "I was going to be nice and just use the viewscreen, but if you want to act like this-here you go!"

She waved her arm in a wide gesture, and then Chakotay could see his bed again. He was in it. And he wasn't alone. Seven sat astride him as he lay on his back, his hips thrusting upwards. Chakotay gaped, he couldn't help it. This had been merely hours before...

Standing next to him, Sekaya made a gagging noise. He turned to look at her and saw her lip was curled up in disgust as she watched the scene in front of them.

"You were the one that brought us in here!" he yelled at her in frustration, instinctively putting a hand up in front of her face to block her view. "If you didn't want to see this–"

"I _don't_ want to see this!" she argued back making another face as grunts began to sound from the bed. "Oh, come on." She shuddered. "If you remember, I wanted to watch a video, but you had to go and be a grump about the whole thing."

"I cannot believe I'm having an argument with _you_ about _this_," he gestured wildly towards the bed behind him. The laborious grunting really was hard to ignore, especially since he knew it was just himself making the noise. Seven rarely uttered a single sound when they had sex.

"Will you just finish it up already?" Sekaya complained, taking a seat by the dresser and keeping her eyes averted. "It's not like she's enjoying it anyway."

Chakotay froze, forgetting momentarily about the couple behind him. "What did you just say?"

"What?" Sekaya repeated innocently, then shrugged, and gestured at the couple on the bed. "Well, she isn't. Look at her."

Automatically, Chakotay glanced over his shoulder before realizing what he was doing. He shook his head and moved closer to his sister. "I do look at her. Every time and believe me, she's enjoying it."

Sekaya looked past him just as the Chakotay on the bed groaned louder. She grimaced and shook her head. "I don't think so, Brother." She pointed. "I mean, that was the big finish, and her expression hasn't changed. She looks bored."

"Will you stop watching?" he hissed at her.

"Believe me, I'd love to," she held a hand up to block her view as she looked up at him, "but unfortunately, I have to make sure you learn something from all this."

He was about to argue when he realized what she had said. "What?"

Sekaya held up her hand for him to wait.

"I must regenerate now," Seven stated.

"See, this is what I'm talking about," Sekaya said, pushing past him even as Seven stood from the bed. "You two finish having sex, and before she's even gotten off you properly, she's talking about having to go regenerate. Whatever the hell that means."

"She's a former Borg, she has to go to an alcove–" Chakotay started to explain.

Sekaya hit him in the chest. "I wasn't asking for an explanation! Look at yourself!" She spun him around so that he was facing the bed. "You aren't even trying to convince her to stay. You aren't even trying to convince her to get back in the bed."

And she was right. He'd lain back on the bed and covered himself with the sheet while Seven had retreated to the bathroom. Standing on the other side of the room, Chakotay sighed, "Look Sekaya, you don't know what you're talking about. You don't know Seven or anything about our relationship."

"It doesn't look like there's a hell of a lot to know!" she complained, watching as Seven emerged from the bathroom fully clothed.

"Good night, Chakotay. I will see you in the morning."

All three of the people in the room watched the former Borg's departure. Sekaya made a tsking noise. "She's certainly efficient. No good night kiss. Nothing. Just wham bam thank you, ma'am. Goodnight."

Chakotay glared at his sister.

"Although in your case it was more like wham bam and you're done," she laughed, quickly muffling it at his expression. "Oh come on, look at yourself." She gestured again to the bed where the other Chakotay was turning on his side and punching his pillow. "Can you honestly tell me that you're happy with this relationship?"

He turned to answer her, to defend his current relationship, but Sekaya was gone, and he was staring at an empty bedroom.


	2. Chapter 2

**For disclaimers and notes, see chapter 1. **

* * *

For the next hour, Chakotay jumped at every sound he heard only to continually find himself still alone. With every light in the house turned on and feeling utterly exhausted and more than a little ridiculous, he slumped onto the couch. Leaning his head back, he allowed his eyes to close. Breathing deep, he could almost convince himself that nothing strange had happened that night. That it had all been a dream.

Almost.

If only it weren't for that lingering scent of coffee now filling the room.

He slowly opened his eyes and raised his head. "Hello, Kathryn."

Sitting on the coffee table in front of him, looking much as she had last week when he'd seen her, she smiled impishly at him over the rim of her ever-present mug of coffee. "Were you expecting me?"

"Well, so far I've seen Sveta, Seska, Sekaya, Seven–"

"That's a lot of S's," she quipped.

"And B'Elanna," he finished.

Her brow knitted together. "That still doesn't explain why you were expecting me."

"There's been a theme tonight," he explained wearily. "_You_ had to show up eventually."

"Ah, but you do realize that if I'm here now, in this capacity..." she trailed off.

"Then you aren't the person I'm going to be seeing myself with next," he finished for her, feeling a pang of disappointment he hadn't expected.

"Something like that, yeah." Kathryn regarded him for a moment before setting the coffee cup down and standing up. "Well, we should get on with it, I suppose." He looked up at her from the couch, not moving. "You might want to stand up for this part."

"Why?" he asked, and then felt himself falling as the couch disappeared from underneath him and he hit the ground hard.

"That would be why," Kathryn replied, offering him a helping hand up.

"Thanks," he said, accepting her hand and feeling that easy sense of comfort he always felt when he was around her. Standing, he looked around at their surroundings, surprised to find that they were outside. "Uhm, where are we?"

She looked at him skeptically. "You can't tell?"

"I can tell it's a cemetery!" he replied, eying the tombstones and feeling slightly queasy. "Do I want to know why we're here?"

"I never realized you ask such obvious questions, Chakotay." She started walking away from him and towards a group of people he hadn't even noticed. "Why else do you go to a cemetery?" she called over her shoulder. "To attend a funeral, of course."

"Kathryn. Wait," he yelled in a whisper as he hurried to catch up to her. It was quite a large gathering, and she had made her way to the front of it a lot easier than she should have been able to. Unsure of how she had managed that particular feat, he worked his way around the outside edge of the crowd instead.

"He gave a nice speech," Kathryn commented, gesturing to the man that was leaving the lectern when Chakotay finally reached her side again.

"Who did?" he asked, belatedly noticing that Kathryn had perched herself on a tombstone.

She ignored his question and pointed. "Oh, look. There's Tom and B'Elanna, and look how much Miral has grown."

Chakotay looked where she indicated and saw the Paris clan seated in the front row of the mourners. B'Elanna had streaks of grey in her hair and Tom's was looking pretty thin on top, but Miral... "She must be twenty years old."

"At least." Kathryn nodded then smiled. "But, of course, the EMH hasn't aged a day."

And Chakotay saw what she meant. The hologram sat next to Miral, looking the same as he always had. Chakotay began to scan the crowd in earnest and realized he was seeing a lot of familiar faces. Faces that he would've expected to see...he swallowed tightly. "Kathryn, whose funeral are we attending?"

"Seven of Nine's," she replied simply, surprising him. "She died younger than she should have, but her implants just couldn't be maintained any longer. She lived a full life, though. She was happy, I think."

"That's good," Chakotay managed to say, feeling only slightly relieved. He scanned the crowd again. "Kathryn, how come I'm not in attendance?"

Kathryn shrugged. "I don't think you know about her death."

He turned to face her. "Why would I not know about Seven's death?"

"No one knows how to get in contact with you."

"What?"

"Well, B'Elanna thinks you're back on Dorvan, but she hasn't been able to reach you." Kathryn explained and then gestured to the rest of gathering. "And everyone else figures if she can't find you, they wouldn't stand a chance."

Chakotay turned back to look at the group. "Tom and B'Elanna don't know where I am? Ayala? Harry? None of these people know how to even contact me?"

Kathryn shook her head. "Nope."

"But what about you? Surely, you–" he scanned the crowd again. "Wait...where are you, Kathryn?" he turned back to look at her. "Why aren't you here?"

She gave him a sad smile and moved her legs to one side so he could see the name on the tombstone she was sitting on. Chakotay's knees gave out and he slumped to the ground as he read her name. "You're...dead?"

She nodded.

"But...how?"

Kathryn got to her feet and circled behind him. "I took a posting on a new experimental science ship, the _USS_ _Marley_. You should've seen her, Chakotay. She was a sleek ship." She smiled at the thought but it faded quickly. "There was a cascade failure in engineering. I managed to get the crew evacuated before..."

Chakotay's mouth went completely dry at her explanation. He reached a hand out to the marble, his fingers tracing over the engraved lettering. His breath caught in his throat when he saw the coffee cup she'd been drinking out of earlier sitting at the base of the tombstone, and he trembled when he reached the date of her death. "Kathryn...Kathryn this date...is next year."

He looked up to see her reaction, but she was gone. Frantically, he looked back at his hand only to find himself kneeling in front of his living room's fireplace.

* * *

Kathryn sat straight up from a dead sleep, knocking the PADD that had lain on her stomach to the floor. She'd fallen asleep on the couch again, and her neck and back were quickly reminding her why she had made a promise to herself the last time it had happened to never let it happen again. Groaning slightly, she reaffirmed her oath as she looked around her living room, wondering what had woken her. She certainly didn't hear anything or see anything out of place. The message light was flashing on her comm console, but it had been doing that since she'd gotten home earlier that evening. She glanced at the ornate clock hanging on the wall. Five thirty in the morning. She groaned again and swung her legs off the couch. No wonder she was sore, she'd slept most of the night away on the couch.

Bending over slowly, she picked up the still active data PADD she'd been perusing last night and threw it on the low coffee table. She stared forlornly at the three other PADDs already there. There were a few debriefing reports left that she could work on. Her gaze traveled to the more than half-empty bottle of wine also sitting on the coffee table. The bottle she had just opened last night. She pursed her lips and made her decision.

Scooping up the wine glass and bottle of wine, she headed for the kitchen to deposit them on her way to her bedroom. If Starfleet was going to force her to take leave before they'd let her go out again, she might as well make the best of it. And at this moment, that meant replicating an analgesic and going back to bed.

Kathryn crawled into her bed and settled down in between the sheets, a ghost of a smile playing across her lips at the thought of sleeping until noon. She closed her eyes, feeling her head sink further into the pillow.

The chime for her front door sounded, and her eyes snapped open. "You've got to be kidding me."

Reluctantly and hoping the sound had simply been her imagination, she pushed herself up onto her elbows. The chime sounded again, and now knowing the sound was real, Kathryn swore as she threw the covers off and swung her legs out of bed. Before she could make it out of the bedroom, the chime sounded again. "I'm coming...I'm coming."

Scrubbing her hand over her face, Kathryn had almost made it to the door when the person on the other side started pounding. She stopped and stared at the door, now feeling something a little more than irritation.

"Kathryn! Kathryn! Open the door! It's me. Chakotay!"

She blinked at the sudden yelling coming from the other side of the door, and her hand automatically went to her disheveled hair. What the hell was he doing here? Shaking off her surprise, she quickly keyed in the code to unlock and open the door. Chakotay barreled inside, immediately wrapping her in a suffocating bear hug. Feeling very confused and concerned, Kathryn patted his back awkwardly with one hand as he mumbled unintelligibly into her hair.

After several minutes, she tried getting his attention. "Chakotay...it's getting hard to breathe." He pushed back from her but kept his hands on her face, staring longingly at her, and she could see now the tear streaks down his face. "Chakotay, what's the matter? What's wrong?"

He just smiled and ran his thumbs over her cheeks, shaking his head.

"Chakotay," she said, laying her hands over his, "you're scaring me."

"Believe me," Chakotay laughed and took her hands in his, kissing them, "it's nothing to how I was feeling earlier."

Kathryn studied his face and tried to use her calmest voice. "Chakotay, what's going on?"

"There's no one else here...is there?" he asked, finally releasing her and stalking into the living room.

"No, it's not even six in the morn–" she paused, watching him curiously as he searched the entire living room before heading for the bedroom. "Chakotay!"

He stopped and looked at her. "What?"

"What are you doing here?"

"Oh. Right." He ran his hand through his hair and glanced nervously at her. She raised an eyebrow. He cleared his throat and pointed at the kitchen. "Coffee. This uh...this is going to call for coffee."

* * *

"Let me see if I have this straight." Kathryn put the coffee mug down on the table and stood. "You couldn't sleep," she pointed at him as she clarified the situation, "and then Sveta showed up in your living room."

He nodded. In the past hour, he'd told her all about Sveta's visit as well as the subsequent visits of Sekaya and B'Elanna. He'd even told her how he'd seen himself with Seska and Seven. That last bit having made them both feel uncomfortable.

"And what makes you think this all wasn't some sort of dream?"

He frowned at her. "I _wasn't_ dreaming."

Kathryn braced her hands on the back of the couch. "How do you know?"

"I just _know,_" he growled. "Why can't you accept this, Kathryn? We've seen stranger things than this."

"Granted," she agreed dryly. She straightened and glanced out the window, taking notice of the bright rays of sunshine now filtering inside. "All right, let's say for the sake of argument, that all of this happened." She held up a hand to keep Chakotay from arguing further. "The question I want the answer to now is – why?"

He didn't answer. He hadn't told her everything he'd seen. He hadn't told her about his vision of the future or about Sveta reappearing while he'd still crouched in front of the fireplace.

_"I tried to warn you that it was going to be a long night."_

_Chakotay spun around to find Sveta perched on the arm of the couch. "Why?"_

_She gave him a long solid look. "Because we care about you, and because you have ridiculously poor judgment when it comes to relationships."_

_He stared at her in disbelief. "__Who__ are you?"_

_Sveta rolled her eyes. "That's really not important, what is important is this: what you saw tonight was real. It has come to pass, and it will come to pass unless you do something about it."_

_"Okay. All right." He struggled to get past all the obvious questions and doubts about tonight. "Okay, so, I need to see Kathryn." Sveta smiled and nodded, so he continued, "and I need to make sure she doesn't get on that ship. That way I can save her life." He looked up, feeling optimistic only to find Sveta glaring at him. "What?"_

_She blew air out between her lips and stood up. "Don't get me wrong, I like Kathryn and all that," she explained, "but it's not her life I'm here to try and save."_

_"Then what..." He gave up. "I don't understand."_

_"Maybe we should've just stuck with a more direct approach," she said more to herself than him. "Okay, Chakotay, despite your previous and current relationships, you've never been happy, and you never will be. The only time you have ever been truly happy and at peace in your life is when you were with Kathryn."_

_"Kathryn and I were never together."_

_Sveta held up a hand. "Yes. You were. It was a more intimate relationship than any other relationship you've had in your life. Including those two you witnessed tonight." Her voice had turned hard. "And eight months from now, when you receive word that Kathryn has died–"_

_"Eight months?" he whispered, taking a seat._

_"Only then will you realize, you've lost the single most important person in your life, but you'll be too late to do anything about it," she continued mercilessly. "You'll retreat into a life of isolation, cutting yourself off from friends and family, constantly walking in the spirit world hoping to reconnect with her." He looked up at her. "But you won't find her."_

_Chakotay swallowed thickly. "Why not?"_

_"Because she got over you."_

_"__Over__ me?" _

_Sveta nodded. "It takes her a few months, but she does. Eventually the mission she agreed to undertake just so she could get away from seeing you with someone else becomes more than just an escape. It becomes something she truly believes in, and she dies with her boots on."_

_Chakotay was having a hard time breathing, but he managed to nod at the conclusion of Sveta's story._

_"But Chakotay," Sveta kneeled in front of him so he was looking at her, "Kathryn dies alone. And so will you unless you do something about it now." _

Those words had been the last Sveta had said before disappearing, but they had been more than enough to have Chakotay running out the door, knowing he absolutely had to see Kathryn. He hadn't even known what he was going to say to her, or what he was going to do when he saw her, but he'd had to see her, and now she was still talking as she paced behind the couch.

"I mean, why show you all this? Why show you things that have already happened? You can't change the past." She chuckled dryly. "Well, at least not without committing some serious infractions against the temporal prime directive." She paused at the look on his face. "Chakotay? What is it?"

"You're right, I can't change the past," he repeated, looking up at her, "but I can change the future."

She looked at him skeptically. "The future?"

He nodded enthusiastically.

"Well, of course you can. The future hasn't been written...wait," she held up a hand to him, "are you saying these ghosts of yours also showed you the future?"

"I saw _a_ future," he admitted, feeling a chill at her use of the word ghosts.

Kathryn threw her hands up at his admission and turned away from him, but he only laughed. He knew now what he needed to do. "Kathryn, listen to me, okay. I'm not crazy, and I don't care if you believe me or not." She turned to glare at him but he couldn't stop smiling. "I tell you what. Why don't you," he took her hand and steered her towards her bedroom, "go back to bed." Kathryn protested, but he put his finger over her mouth. "There's something I need to do, but I'll be back. I promise." He leaned forward and kissed her forehead in a way that was significantly less than platonic. "And when I come back, you and I have some serious talking to do."

Kathryn was completely bewildered. "Chakotay...what–"

"Give me one hour, and I'll be back. I'll explain everything." He laughed again at the complete look of confusion on her face and kissed her hands. "One hour." He stepped away from her, moving towards the front door still laughing. "Just don't accept any missions while I'm gone, okay."

"Mission? But how did you–"

Chakotay froze at her words, his hand still hovering over the door release. He turned back to her. "Kathryn?"

Her eyes fell on the PADDs scattered on the coffee table and her shoulders relaxed. "Oh, you saw–"

"I didn't read any of your reports, Kathryn." He moved back towards her. "Were you really going to accept another mission?"

She shrugged. "Well...yes. I didn't want to stick around here and have to see..." Her voice trailed off, and she turned away from him.

Chakotay put his hands on her shoulders. "See what, Kathryn?"

"Nothing." She turned back to face him and tried to smile. "It's nothing, really. You should go. I'm sure Seven is waiting for you."

"I didn't say I was going to see Seven."

"Weren't you?"

He could easily see the pain in her eyes at the question and it killed him that he had to answer her truthfully. He nodded. "Yes, I was." She tried to turn away from him but he held her still. "But not for the reason you're thinking. I was leaving so I could go break up with her."

Kathryn was shaking her head. "But why? You love her...don't you?"

"No," he stated simply. "I'm not even happy being with her," he chuckled sadly, "and she isn't happy being with me, but it took what happened tonight for me to realize that."

"Chakotay," Kathryn whispered, "what _did_ happen tonight?"

"I don't know," he pushed her hair back away from her face, "but I do know that I want you to stay away from the _Marley_."

Kathryn paled. "Chakotay, how do you...no one knows about that ship."

He grinned. "I could try and explain, but I don't think you'd believe me."

She let out a shaky breath. "I might."

"Well, believe this," he said, "I love you, and I want to spend the rest of my life with you."

"Okay."

He blinked. "Okay, what?"

Kathryn let out a watery laugh that warmed his heart. "Okay, I'll believe you."

Chakotay beamed, grabbing her around the waist and spinning her around in a circle. When he stopped they were both laughing. He sobered quickly though, staring into her face, enjoying the peaceful look he could see in her eyes for possibly the first time since he'd known her. He couldn't believe he'd almost missed it.

Kathryn's smile faded slowly as her eyes locked with his. She gently disentangled herself from his hands. "I'm going to go take a shower." She laughed when he groaned. "And you should go talk to Seven."

He nodded reluctantly and let her step away from him, watching as she made her way towards her bedroom. "Kathryn?" She turned back to face him, and he swallowed tightly. "Are we really doing this?"

One corner of her mouth curved upwards and she gave him a single shoulder shrug before she turned back towards her bedroom. "Stranger things have happened."

"Yes, they most certainly have," Chakotay laughed and headed out the door.


End file.
